1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for managing distributed multimedia resources on wide area networks, and particularly, to a system and method for brokering multimedia resources and services to multimedia clients.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Consider two content providers CP1 and CP2, each being associated with a particular content vault or repository containing intellectual property for their respective organization. Some examples of such intellectual property are news, stock quotes, MP3 files, distance learning classes, organizational procedures, etc. Means to sell such content is often desirable and is foreseen to be an increasing revenue stream in the next generation Internet. Thus, it is widely felt need in the arts for a system providing access and reuse of content repositories across organizations to enable a new level of inter-organization cooperation across organizations.
For instance, it would be highly desirable to realize brokering functionality between media servers and applications that enables processing of free-form requests comprised of both content requirements (e.g., xe2x80x9cthe most recent headline news content from any major news outletxe2x80x9d) as well as presentation requirements (e.g., xe2x80x9cwhere the content can be delivered with high quality and not exceeding total cost of more than $1), and, particularly, mapping of such requests to media servers that can satisfy such request specification.
To date, there is no integrated approach that provides the ability to explore content across independent organizational repositories in terms of both search (e.g., metadata about content) and delivery (e.g., feasibility about content) parameters. To this end, an open system infrastructure that allows reuse of content, security, billing, exploration of content, exploration of end-to-end QoS issues, etc., is tremendously desirable.
It is an object of the invention to provide an extensible, distributed, policy-based, object-oriented framework for managing multimedia resources and providing resource discovery and negotiation during the setup and control of a media session between one or more media servers and end users regardless of the complexity of the multimedia session.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an extensible, distributed, policy-based, object-oriented framework that provides brokering functionality between media servers and applications in order to produce a free-form request specification [x[1], x[2], . . . , x[m]] comprised of both content requirements (e.g., xe2x80x9cthe most recent headline news content from any major news outletxe2x80x9d) as well as presentation requirements (e.g., xe2x80x9cwhere the content can be delivered with high quality and not exceeding total cost of more than $1) and that includes compliant media servers that provide offerings known to satisfy such a request specification.
In addition to the objects stated above, it is another object of the present invention to provide an extensible, distributed, policy-based, object-oriented framework that provides an open systems architecture to enable web-like exploration of content provider repositories known to be compliant, and further that enables the building of browsers for searching multimedia content conditioned to constraints such as quality and cost.
According to the principles of the invention, there is provided a Resource Management Framework (xe2x80x9cRMFxe2x80x9d) that provides building blocks used to build a mapping system for negotiating multivariate application-level quality of service specifications across the offerings from one or more candidate servers. A brokering nucleus implements an iterative negotiated mapping process between user (i.e., session) requirements and systems (i.e., service, and resource) constraints. Particularly, the set of application constraints is negotiated against media servers and server offerings are obtained. Each negotiation constraint is supported by an interface that encapsulates an aspect of a system (hereinafter, xe2x80x9cfacadexe2x80x9d) that enables a server to be accountable for the reliable implementation of a mapping commitment. In the RMF, facades raise the compliance level of a media server aspect to a common ground. In this way, media servers are seen as equals with regards to this aspect.
Particularly, the RMF framework implements brokering functionality that is capable of mapping such requirements onto feasible server offerings. For example, an RMF negotiator computes a distance vector (a metric determining the suitability of requests to matches) between the individual specification and offerings and determines which of these are the most feasible. The mapping functionality of the invention is particularly implemented for transposing a generic request to a specific request taking into account application, user, and system requirements and constraints. Sets of matches or potential matches, conformant to various installable policies, are created/modified at various stages in the framework. The set of matches may be altered by application or user""s preferences, requirements, or system conditions, to create a modified set of service matches for the request. Modification of the set, with preferences/needs and/or system conditions, is governed by installable policies that control the modification process. Ultimately, out of a set of potential matches, for a given service, one specific service will be chosen to serve the generic service request. This selection may be entirely done by the framework or, where there may be a higher level of ambiguity in the satisfaction of the service request, the selection may be done in concert with the application and end-user. Sets of matches may be cached throughout the framework for re-use either later in the current session or for future sessions.
To realize an extensible and flexible negotiated mapping framework, the RMF is customizable via the use of policies. The policies, upon which management decisions and service selections are based, are xe2x80x98pluggablexe2x80x99 and new or updated policies may be added, to augment or replace existing policy and allow new behavior or refinement of existing behavior. Moreover, the RMF provides physical and logical hooks to allow the insertion of an arbitrary service into the negotiated mapping algorithm.
According to the principles of the invention, the RMF framework enables the creation of a new class of browser applications that enables searching content by both static attributes about the content and dynamic attributes about the supporting infrastructure. Via the use of RMF management layer objects, it is possible to create a new class of search browsers that may search for content in terms of static constraints such as format, resolution, and access rights as well as qualifying dynamic constraints such as cost and quality of service. For example, RMF objects such as directories allow the representation of these vaults in terms of key searchable attributes of interest to classes of applications. RMF directories may be used to efficiently store metadata about the static attributes of content whereas the RMF brokering objects may be used to derive the dynamic attributes about the delivery of content to a particular application or client. Moreover, via the use of RMF facades, it is possible to extend such searches across multiple organizations.
The RMF brokering nucleus provides the ability to explore an iterative refinement of the constraints exposed by the content delivery browser. Such exploration and negotiation may produce a set of zero or more feasible mappings for which the specified conditions are met. For any resulting mapping, once accepted, the RMF guarantees the resulting binding for its lifetime. For example, the RMF objects would deliver fault resiliency and interactivity control over a binding in order to manage their impact over promised QoS.